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Kasidrek
Kasidrek, also known as The Tiefling or Kas, is the party's bard and rogue. During the first campaign she was unable to speak, save for singing during her bard spells, but in the time prior to the second campaign she had her magic sealed by Blessing the Unicorn, thus regaining her ability to talk. She now goes by the name "Kasidrek", as it is the name she has been using for the past several years to hide in Kuroseki. Her original reasons for joining the party have never been given, and her constant attempts to steal and rob have earned the mistrust of some of the party members, though with the events of the second campaign she seems to have gained some respect from the other members of the party. Appearance Prior to her period as the Baron Savoy's assistant, Kasidrek dressed primarily in rags and scraps, whatever she was able to acquire in her time on the streets. Since her return to the group, however, she has maintained the attire and attitude she gained while acting as a spy. She still dresses in proper attire and she wears the same clothing she did when in disguise as a man, and she maintains the same formal air that she did while putting on her act. History Who her parents were is uncertain: Perhaps her mother was some starry-eyed young girl, struck dumb with love for the dark, mysterious strangers from far-flung lands, perhaps it was her father who was seduced be a woman who traced her lineage to a succubus or some such fiend. Whoever they were, her parents did not survive long after her birth, or the child's demonic visage so terrified the young mother that she abandonment it, so that the child found itself in the care of a wandering troupe of Varisian players. The players in the troupe were not bad people, some even treated her with kindness, though they all feared her to some extent, but the leader of the troupe was a man with nothing but greed in his heart, and in her he say only potential for gain. As soon as she was old enough to stand on her own he put her in chains in a sideshow act, using the young girl’s unusual visage to draw the attention of passing eyes. This is how she spent the first part of her life, nearly two and a half decades, as a sideshow freak to be laughed and jeered at by people who would have lynched her out of fear, were she not safely in chains. She did not hate being part of the troupe because it meant she could spend her days listening to music. From birth she seemed to have an affinity for music, calming her crying only for lullabies or melodies on the flute or dulcimer. Because of her demon blood, she aged slowly, and this had its advantage in that those who were only children when she became part of the caravan had become accustomed to her presence, having grown up around her. Eventually, some of the less frightened players began to teach her to sing, and then to play instruments, and it became quickly apparent that she had natural talent in the musical arts. Though she was young, she wanted nothing more than to become a regular member of the troupe, wishing to put on shows and play rather than being made to cower and cry for the crowd. But the leader of the band, now long in years and more wretched for it, feared her most out of the players, not only for her demonic heritage, but for her musical skill, which he saw as an abhorrence that such a monster should play so well, and so he refused to let her play and berated anyone who taught her music. After nearly three decades with the troupe, she began to shed her childlike visage and develop physically, growing taller and losing her baby-fat. One day, while the troupe performed in a major city, a passing slaver caught sight of the developing young girl and offered the master of the caravan a bag of gold for the girl. The old man, greedy at heart and glad to be rid of the demonspawn, gladly agreed and offered her up for the money. After that, the girl was clapped in chains and taken away, never to see her childhood family again. Had she been sold to any other man, she might have simply wound up in a brothel or another circus as an exotic attraction, but the slaver who bought her from the caravan was in the personal employment of Baron Nehrun Savoy, a wantonly cruel man with taste for the flesh of the young. He put her in his dungeons, where he kept all his toys, and used her as a plaything for his entertainment. For years she was made to suffer for the man’s sport, forced into unspeakable acts and receiving dreadful tortures if she dared attempt to resist.To console and calm herself she sang. When she was alone she sang quietly; sad, lonely songs she knew from the minstrels. When she was around those that controlled her she heard songs in her head; songs in dark tongues she didn’t remember, songs with dark meanings and hidden powers. Slowly, quietly, these songs and melodies came to her, and with them came something else, with them came a power. When she sang, she no longer sang with her voice, but with her soul, and when she sang those she sang to listened. The power was weak at first, she could do little more than cloud the mind or distract a guard who was to to abuse her. But she developed her skill over years, and by the time she was forty she could enrapture those who heard her song, inspire love or drive them to madness. She could not fully control the power, however, so while she could sing a song of peace when her captors were angry or a dark lullaby when they sought her flesh, she could still not find in her the strength to escape. Until the night she did. The Baron, drunken and enraged from some unknown event during the day, came down to the dungeons to release some of his anger on his toys. To her dismay, he chose the girl as his plaything. His blows too hard and abuse too cruel, he would have ended her in his anger, but her life was not to end on that night. In her sorrow and fear, she found within her a dark power, one which resonated from deep within her soul, and which pulled from within her dark magics which had been locked within her blood. Her scream echoed through the walls of the mansion, cracking the walls and driving men and women mad. The Baron, having caught the brunt of it, fell to the ground, writhing in pain but alive. Too weak to do much else, and without the stomach or the time to take her revenge from the mans flesh, she stumbled away, making it out of the mansion and onto the streets of the city before any of the guards came to. When she finally stopped running long enough to check her well-being, she found that the eruption of magic from within her had left her with a permanent disfigurement: her magic songs were now only weak shadows of what they had been in her passion, and she could no longer control them, such that any utterance of her voice came laced with that melodious magic. But this was no matter for her, for life on the streets did not require that she ever speak. At first it was difficult; she had never seen so large a city before and there were many dangers she did not yet know how to handle. Fortunately, her appearance scared off any petty thieves or children that would have stolen from her, and her song was enough to let her escape from those who would do her harm. In time, she learned how to survive, picking pockets and stealing purses when necessary, lifting food from stalls when possible, and making coin with her performance whenever she could. This is how she lived until she was fifty seven; hungry and poor, but her own woman and surviving. Then she met a group of adventurers. Kasidrek joined the adventuring party as they fled Kuroseki at the outset of the first campaign, having overheard their conversation in the bar and following out of the city. After proving her abilities in helping the party fight off a group of Orc banditsWhether or not this even is still canonical is up for debate, she became a more permanent fixture of the party, though she still kept aloof for much of the time. Between the first and second campaign, she left Nuhaven and the party, travelling north along the Magros Mountains to Hilton, where she journeyed into the woods at the behest of Blessing. The forest in that area had no unicorn watcher, and Blessing insisted on staying there to watch over the forest, but before she left, Blessing used her unicorn magic to seal Kasidrek's bloodline magic, allowing her to speak without casting spells. Campaign 3 Choice After defeating the wendigo, Kasidrek received a letter from Nisha asking to meet in Quata. Nisha met kasidrek in the background of a seedy tavern and unmasked herself. Her skin was orange, her eyes were yellow and she had tiny horns growing from the top of her head. Nisha explained that she and Kasidrek were tieflings. They were descended from fiends, either demons or devils. Nisha said that her mother was a tiefling and Nisha was told as a child that she was descended from a great demon. Nisha said that she was told that the majority of tieflings were descended from the same pairing, so Kasidrek and Nisha may be 10th cousins or something. Because of this, Nisha felt like she had to reach out to Kasidrek, the only tielfing she had seen outside her close family. Nisha also told of a near miraculous experience where she was saved from a group of aggressive scientarians by a unicorn in the forest. Nisha explained that she was drawn to the adventuring life as a method of escape and hoped to make a better life for herself and prove her freedom from her blood's taint. Because she had no one else with her to protect her, Nisha chose to constantly conceal herself. Nisha warned Kasidrek to be careful revealing herself to anyone she didn't totally trust, especially men. Nisha left Kasidrek with the address of an inn that she stopped by every few months so they could stay in contact. When Kasidrek went searching for Blessing, she was no longer able to find her in the forest where she used to be. Character Details Goals and Motivations At this point she's somewhat conflicted in her motivations: For a long time she has wished to get her revenge on those who harmed her in the past (The caravan leader, the slaver, and Baron Savoy), but her interactions with Blessing have softened her hatred somewhat, such that she felt little reward from killing the Baron. She also feels a draw to help the people of Kuroseki fight the Scientarians, but she's still not so selfless that she'll subject herself to that much danger, so for the time being she wishes simply to travel with the party and help them in order to repay them for how they helped her. Likes, Dislikes, and Fears She very much likes music (playing/singing/dancing) and sneaking about while others sleep. She very much dislikes getting caught and being stabbed (such that she doesn't generally like getting involved in combat, or when she can't avoid it she'll try to ensure she's in a position where she won't be hurt). Her biggest fear is being enslaved like she was in the past. For the most part this fear doesn't play a big role in her actions, but she could be induced into fits of panic or irrational action if she thought this were likely, and she would quickly become despondent/miserable if she were imprisoned. Past Locations Where she was born is currently unknown, but she spent the first part of her life travelling with a Varisian caravan. While the actual location wasn't constant, the setting of the Caravan was, and she would recognize the group she traveled with if she saw them. After that, the other major setting from her past is the streets of Kuroseki. She spent a long time living in the streets, and she's seen a great deal of the city. She's familiar with most of the slums, as well as the trade districts and markets. She spent less time in the upper-class areas before, though she had some time to explore them in the period leading up to the second campaign and while she was disguised as the baron's assistant. Religion She care much about religion and doesn't pray to any deity, though she knows about them and is fairly knowledgeable. As far as she knows, all the deities are real and none is more valid than any other. She doesn't pray to any deity because she feels that none of the good deities would answer the prayers of a demon, and she doesn't trust the evil deities enough to pray to them. Over the years, she's lost any desire to make contact with the spiritual world, focusing on making her way through this one, though she doesn't care about the religions of others. Events during and after 25 a.s.r. Kasidrek was involved in the quest to finally rid Phentis from Gernon and gained a wish from Asmodeus for helping to take down his unruly subordinate. She wished for the resurrection of her faithful Unicorn Blessing. Since then, she has stayed hidden from the public eye, though is known to appear from time to time to play music for children. Category:Player Characters Category:Plot Characters Category:Tieflings